Ammonia-to-hydrogen technology could bring down the cost of hydrogen

by Autos - August 8, 2007

Aug 8, 2007

Ammonia-to-hydrogen technology could bring down the cost of hydrogen

Athens, Ohio – Ohio University has granted a worldwide exclusive license to commercialize its catalytic electrolyzer technology to American Hydrogen Corp. The patent-pending technology, which produces hydrogen from ammonia for a fraction of the current commercial cost, was developed by Dr. Gerardine Botte, an associate professor at the University’s Russ College of Engineering and Technology, and could bring down the cost of hydrogen as a fuel source for transportation.

“Working with Ohio and Dr. Botte, we have advanced this technology to a stage where we are ready to move to commercial applications,” says Benjamin Schafer, president of American Hydrogen. “Our research indicates that we should be able to produce hydrogen commercially for significantly less per kilogram than by current industrial hydrogen production methods. We expect our first application to be hydrogen generator for the HydraStax fuel cells, but ultimately, we want this technology for economical hydrogen production to be widely distributed so as to unlock the promise of the ‘hydrogen economy’.”

The technology could produce hydrogen at a current cost of US$0.899/kg H2, according to Botte, and is much less energy-intensive than water electrolysis. The U.S. Department of Energy’s target cost for hydrogen is US$2/kg H2. The method could also be extended to use ammonia from waste water, such as from livestock or municipal waste water.